Ben Elton’s gaffes at Nine launch
New Nine recruit Ben Elton gets a quick lesson in network politics after a few wayward gags at the 2011 Programme launch.
- Published by David Knox
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Last week satirist and new Nine recruit Ben Elton was the compere at the network’s 2011 launch to clients and media.
He kept the crowd entertained at FOX Studios with his banter, but threw in a few gags that might not have been such a good fit with the audience, especially when you’re trying to sell ad space.
“Congratulations to QANTAS, they’ve done brilliantly to get the A380s back on board,” he joked.
“Subtly everytime you fly your mid-air disaster will be different. And there’s no truth in the rumour that they’re putting clean underwear in with the amenities bags.”
QANTAS is a big ad client to television. Ooops.
He also had a go at cricket, telling the crowd that despite being a dual citizen of both Australia and the UK, he doesn’t give a toss about the “boring” game.
He likened it to a slow sport interrupted by copious cups of tea.
Another oops -Nine’s Ashes Series is currently airing over summer.
Later he cheekily apologised praising Nine’s coverage, no doubt after a quiet word from someone in the network.
It was all good fun. Hopefully his Live From Planet Earth, due to air next year, is equally robust.
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- Tagged with Ashes Series, Live From Planet Earth
19 Responses
@Kris Are you doing satire of your own? And it’s Harry’s fault Daryl let a racist skit go to air? And that in turn prevented Daryl – who has never been funny – from being funny?
Sad seeing Elton at 9, even more as their mouth piece… Bit like seeing Luke Skywalker drive the Death Star…..
@paully. Hear Hear. All we need now is for Alexei Sayle to co-host Antique Roadshow and Rik Mayall to do the voiceovers on Total Wipeout UK…
Gaffes – spare me its satire.
Nine wouldn’t have censored – just an extension of his act.
See, Daryl used to make jokes like that, along with the rest of the Hey Hey crew, but they were totally censored this year all because of Harry Conic Jr. *sigh*
I’m looking forward to Ben Elton’s show! Any idea when it will start airing?
Ben, you’ve sold your soul to the devil.
With that kind of repartee Nine must be confident of their new program – “cricket is so boring they even have a tea break, i had to change my undies myself because i thought the plane was going to crash.” Ben Elton used to bang on about how obsolete Benny Hill was – now he is using lines so old that Benny wouldn’t have touched them with a barge pole. 2 episodes maximum.
I love Ben. This is why I fear he won’t last long on Nine though. It’ll be Molloy all over again. Probably without the urination, though you never know
Who cares, why is everyone so serious nowadays? Maybe if Qantas and Nine were a bit more playful their customers would appreciate it…
I wasn’t there, but this reads like Ben Elton making jokes, not gaffes. Go Ben!
They were absolutely jokes as the article reflects. But as he had forgotten about Nine’s cricket telecasts, and as Qantas was probably in the room as a potential buyer they were a bit wayward. Not a hanging offence… part of the reason why he will be worth watching next year.
There’s a lovely jibe at Ben Elton’s expense in the third series of Ashes to Ashes, episode 5.
It’s a wonder he didn’t make it all about him…oops. He did.
Gaffes? More like a couple of playful, irreverent jibes at his new employer.
According to the Sunday Herald Sun today, Ben said he could not watch Junior MasterChef, even though his sister-in-law Anna Gare is one of the judges. Ben also compared the contestants to “Stepford children”.
Both true. It was very much like a stand-up. Got lots of laughs.
Utterly brilliant! Go for it Ben!
ooooh, cricket mafia at it’s nerdy best
Shame he apologised – let’s hope he won’t be phoned up and made change his style or gags just because Nine doesn’t like what he says!!